New Song Of The Day: Emily Rice – Kanohi ki te kanohi

What better way to celebrate Good Friday than with this new song from Emily Rice.

The song is Kanohi ki te kanohi and its the third release from Emily’s upcoming EP, AUAHA coming May 7. Here’s the blurb with more details:

The third single from Rice’s upcoming EP AUAHA, ‘Kanohi ki te kanohi’, which means face to face, is a futuristic house groove that is centred around being vulnerable and fully yourself.

Rice says the song came to fruition last year when she was part of a group called Auaha (meaning “create”) April, a 30-day online challenge that saw people come together with a daily topic to help create and creatively inspire one another.

“I decided to take this challenge to write a song a day for the month using the topics as my starting point. The idea which birthed ‘Kanohi ki te kanohi’ was actually a gorgeous Easter Sunday poem by another member of the group, Emma Howan. I asked if I could make a song with her reflective words, and her response was ‘I’m all for one person’s creativity-inspiring another’s’.”

“The song is about being real and raw and fully human, face-to-face with who we really are – seeing ourselves the way we were made to be seen – which is beautiful, but not always easy.”

Drawing inspiration from the likes of Disclosure, the song started as an acoustic song but Rice had it in mind to become more of a song with a dance vibe and charming old school harmony to it.

Accompanying the single is a stunning video directed and filmed by Beka Hope that interprets the song through the use of mirrors and kaleidoscopes to express both beauty and vulnerability.

“Kanohi ki te kanohi translates to mean face-to-face, so we’re playing on that idea in the video capturing the idea of being face to face with yourself – and becoming comfortable with who we really are. We filmed the week before I had our baby girl which was pretty special in that regard, celebrating the beauty of being hapū and the joy of carrying this new little life inside of me – not hiding my pregnant shape, but embracing it.”

‘Kanohi ki te kanohi’ follows on from Rice’s previously released tracks, ‘Arise’ and ‘Over Time’ – all written during the level four lockdown in 2020. Her new EP, AUAHA, is set to be a seamless blend of chill DnB-meets-RnB pop, and is due out May 7. All songs on the EP, including ‘Arise’ were produced, recorded and mixed byM J Collier/ Leone at Aro Music Studio and Little Lion Studio. The EP was mastered by Vivek Gabriel of Gabriel Audio.

Lyrics 
Kanohi ki te kanohi
Takes courage
Looks into each others eyes
Sees and is seen

Kanohi ki te kanohi
Reveals emotion
Shows the honest and raw
Sees and is seen

Ko reira ia ahau mōhio ai, me ahau i mōhiotia rā

Kanohi ki te kanohi ki te Atua
Takes courage
Reveals emotion
Allows me to see as I am seen